I wish I had an euro everytime i hear something like "Complete newbie needs help.... I don't know how to run DosBox, etc ..."
Anyway, the first two things you must do are ...

1st) Read the documentation. As suggested, use the HELP and INTRO commands under DosBox. You know how MS-DOS commands work, don't you?

2nd) Use the SEARCH option in this same forums (forii?) to see if someone has already asked the same question. Thus, we avoid to be answering the same questions over and over.

I didn't mean to sound rude, but i'm a little fed up of people asking the same thing every two posts.

EDIT: Just a suggestion. It would be better imho, that you would state the title you want to run in the POST TITLE, something like I WANT TO RUN GAME XXX, it would make things easier to find.

Then I make a suggestion as to make a tutorial with a sticky that explains in detail how to run various emulators, etc. That would make it easier than looking around hoping to find little bits of information that I could possibly use, maybe.

I'm sorry, but the documentation with Dosbox is not clear at all. Read it up and down.

Plus, I don't mean to be rude, but isn't that what this forum is all about? People helping people? If we all knew everything instinctively, there wouldn't be a need for this forum at all, now would there?

Well I find DOSBox it's documentation understandable but i wrote part of it 😉

So let's try to informative here:

Start dosbox :
you'll see a screen that looks like the cmd.exe in windows.

type mount c c:\
then you will have acces to you C drive
Then it's regular dos commands....

handy commands :

c:
cd name
dir

What it can and can't do ? :
it can run almost every game from before 1993
after that it's succesrate is much lower. But still.... if you don't try you don't know it. 😀

Here's an interesting twist.

While in XP, using compatibility modes and all that, the game's installation tells me I need Dos 6.2 or greater. Ok fine.

I mount drives c and e using the commands above and try to run setup.exe from my e drive (cd-rom). The only thing that pops up is "This game requires Microsoft Windows."

Any idea which way I should go now?

Originally posted by darkhawk30 I'm trying to run IBM's Quest for Fame (circa 1995) on my Windows XP system. Someone recommended Dosbox to me, but I have absolutely no idea what it does, how it operates or whatnot. I don't know if any of you folks have had experience with this game, but it's the one that you use a Virtual Pick with.

Ow. This may be a hard one. The pick connects though the Parallel port and I'm not sure if it can be made to work properly with OS like XP since it locks out direct hardware access (for the most part).

Windows Compatibility Wizard doesn't work, because during the installation I get a "You do not have Dos 6.2" message and then the installation quits out.

There's another knock against it. Even if you used DosBox it would likely report that as DOS 5.

Originally posted by darkhawk30 Plus, I don't mean to be rude, but isn't that what this forum is all about? People helping people?

Sorry if it sounds a little unfriendly, but we're kind of short-handed lately and the # posts to deal with has skyrocketed lately.

We've discussed such guides before, but the major problems seem to be taking the time to type it up (properly, with organization, labels, etc...) and at what "level" should it be written: average PC-user with DOS experience? average PC user with no DOS experience? computer-user in general? computer-user who can only do things with pop-up windows that tell them what to do?

If we write it for the first group, it will be short, sweet, and to-the-point and easy to update, but harder for the 2nd group, and bewildering to the last two groups.

If we write it for the last group, it will work for them...but it will be a long droning text that reads like a dry novel and will irritate the 3rd group, and infuriate the first two groups as they hunt for relevant data amongst all the explanations of things they already know.

Fortunately, I think I can whip up a DosBox page relatively quickly for basic operation...if I can just get caught up on post responses...

If we all knew everything instinctively, there wouldn't be a need for this forum at all, now would there?

Well, we do ask that you put keywords from your question into the Quick Search box before you start up a new thread. In your case, that would be DOSBOX QUEST FAME. Since there was only one post about it and it wasn't dealing with XP, you would still have started a new thread.

Originally posted by darkhawk30 While in XP, using compatibility modes and all that, the game's installation tells me I need Dos 6.2 or greater. Ok fine.

I mount drives c and e using the commands above and try to run setup.exe from my e drive (cd-rom). The only thing that pops up is "This game requires Microsoft Windows."

Oh lovely...

Since I don't have it, I can only guess that it must be using some kind of hybrid executable like "Spycraft". If that's the case, I don't think it would be possible to run without using a PC emulator running Windows (like "Virtual PC").

This sounds like a candidate for a dual-boot setup.

ill never get dosbox. i think its too confusing. cant he use vdmsound?

Now can I set up a dual boot system without having to fdisk and reformat my hard drive?

Or is it possible to get an old hard drive and have Win95 or Dos or Win98 (if good) installed on it?

Thanks for your responses earlier btw. 😀

well id say you need multiboot

multiboot is a program that makes a win 95 or 98 compatible boot disk so that you can play older (DOS) games when you dont really have DOS.

goto google.com and search for multiboot.

and try that

silverfoxx wrote:

ill never get dosbox. i think its too confusing. cant he use vdmsound?

It depends what you are used to. If you've used dos (else you wouldn't playing games from the dos era) it's actually quite simple and if you ever used a non windows operating system the idea of mounting is very similiar to the techniques used on those OSes.

So you are right:
You think its too confusing.

Many others think it's not too confusing if you take the time to read the README

Suggesting Dual Boot is actually confusing. Messing with partition tables/make bootfloopies with strange utilities.

Originally posted by silverfoxx ill never get dosbox.

Your loss. You just closed the door on running a lot of older programs.

Originally posted by darkhawk30 Now can I set up a dual boot system without having to fdisk and reformat my hard drive?

It's a pain-in-the-butt when XP is already installed, but it can be done.
showthread.php?threadid=509&highlight=Dualboot+trick

Or is it possible to get an old hard drive and have Win95 or Dos or Win98 (if good) installed on it?

This can be done, but I'm not personally familiar with it. You either need to install a "BootMagic" type of program and add the DOS/Win9x drive, or add it using the OS's tools (I presume that would involve tweaking the BOOT.INI file).

Be aware that the Win9x installations, unless they were previously installed on your present motherboard, will go nuts trying to reconfigure themselves. If you're using a separate hard drive, I'd recommending disconnecting the XP drive temporarily, then start a fresh install of Win9x. Add needed drivers, setup configuration in general, etc...then reconnect your XP drive (as the primary)...then like I said you need to find a way of adding the DOS/Win9x drive to the startup.

Originally posted by silverfoxx multiboot is a program that makes a win 95 or 98 compatible boot disk so that you can play older (DOS) games when you dont really have DOS.

goto google.com and search for multiboot.

!!!!
Err... silverfoxx, you need to show a little restraint on the whole "multiboot" thing. It can actually mean a number of things.

It could mean the multiple configurations available in DOS6 or Win9x at startup.

It could mean using a bootdisk (like you seem to be advocating).

Or it could mean multiple operating systems on a single PC.

Each has it's own upsides and downsides.

Using a bootdisk is less of a "shock to the system" as it can be created in a matter of minutes and doesn't require massive changes to your PC. The down side is that it's obviously DOS only (no Win9x), it still requires tinkering with the startup for individual PC's, and (most importantly) difficult to implement audio support (sometimes, it's impossible).

Using an actual Win9x install requires big changes to your PC configuration, but once done, opens the door to a large number of titles that simply won't work right in NT and can't be emulated properly yet (including Windows 9x titles).

Originally posted by Qbix Suggesting Dual Boot is actually confusing. Messing with partition tables/make bootfloopies with strange utilities.

If a title doesn't run properly in XP and you can't run it DosBox,...what do you suggest?

Quest for Fame has both Windows and DOS versions I believe. I used the Windows version when I got this game. I suggest you do the same, using Windows compatibility modes to trick it into thinking you've got Win95. (Right now it'll report Windows NT, which the program apparently does not recognize as Windows.)

Originally posted by Snover Quest for Fame has both Windows and DOS versions I believe. I used the Windows version when I got this game.

If this is the case, then he must've been running different install programs: the DOS version when trying natively in XP, the Windows version when running DosBox. Hrrmm...

System Requirements

Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher
Dos 6.2 or higher
486/33 Mhz IBM or 100% compatible PC
6 MB RAM (8 MB recommended)
SVGA display (640 x 480 x 256-color)
16-bit sound card
10MB free hard disk space
Parallel printing port (for VPick connection)
CD-ROM drive (double-speed)
Mouse

Software Installation
1. Run Windows (if it is not already running)
2. Insert the Virtual Music CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive with the silver side face-down.
3. If you're running Windows '95, go to step 4. Otherwise, in the Program Manager, click on the menu item File, then click on Run, type the following line into the box labeled Command Line: D:\Setup and press the Enter key. Note that the "D" must be the drive letter on your CD-ROM.
4. If you're running Windows '95, click on the Start button in the Taskbar, then click on Run. Type the following line into the box labeled Open: D:\Setup and press the Enter key. Note that the "D" must be the drive letter of your CD-ROM.
5. Follow all directions displayed on the screen during installation. When the installation completes successfully, the program group named "Virtual Music Entertainment" will have an icon called "Quest for Fame." Double-clickin on this icon will run the game.

Ok, there is only 1 setup.exe file present, not 2. Back in the day when I ran this game, I did have Windows 95 installed onto my computer.

Only thing I can think of is that part of the program runs in DOS while others run in Windows mode. Thus making dosbox unable to play it on it's own.

Does Windows XP compatibility mode contain some sort of DOS functionality? If not, then there's the reason why it can't run with that. I think I'm gonna have to dual boot my system. 🙁

Should I make one partition NTFS and the other a FAT16 and dedicate the FAT16 one to old, old games?

Thanks again for all your input and responses. Appreciate it greatly.

Update:

Tried it on a P233-MMX, 48MB RAM, Windows 98 system with 2MB Video Card and SB PCI 128 soundcard.

The game installed just fine, but when I tried to run the game for the first time, the game went to a black screen (where a splash screen would appear) and just stopped.

I noticed when I did a ctrl-alt-dlt that it gave me a error message about a GPF with midiget.dll. Not sure what that's all about. The plot thickens... 🤣

well i am from the dos era. believe it or not 😀. but the oldest pc i worked on was a 386. So..

Well upon further thought, I've come to the conclusion that I'm gonna have to install a second OS onto my system (Windows 95 most likely) and also MS-Dos 6.22 (I was lucky and found some at my dad's house). I'll check out that "dual-boot" trick before I hve to reformat everything. 😀

Why the need for an Windows 9.x kerneled O.S.? I also have Windows XP installed and when I need to go to real DOS, I boot from floppy or from CD-ROM.

because the game also requires Windows to play it.

Windows is for the installation and configuration of the game and DOS is for the execution of the game itself.

What a weird thing. A DOS game that required Windows to be installed. It seems a stupid thing too. Are you sure there isn't an INSTALL.BAT file somewhere? Or you could copy all files to a folder.